Youth and Institutional Change: The Impact of Student Protests on Curricula Transformation in Higher Education

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 11:40 am Four Seasons Ballroom 1
  In Roundtable Session: Reimagining Student Success in Higher Education: Student Voice, Curriculum, and College Preparation (Table 4)

Abstract

Literature on the role of youth in institutional transformation has tended to focus on the inclusion of young people’s voices. Yet, little is known about the extent to which institutions take up young people’s input. In fact, decades-long evidence of recurring demands from student protests suggests that there’s an urgent need to examine the extent to which institutions are responsive to youth voice. This paper leverages a combination of machine learning and longitudinal structural equation models to examine the extent to which course offerings across 20 universities in South Africa and the US shifted in the wake of nation-wide student protests. Findings provide robust empirical insights on the extent to which higher education institutions are responsive to youth voice.

Author

• Tafadzwa Tivaringe, Spencer Foundation